Filed under: Pregnancy and Baby

Hello, again. Good grief, I’m losing days and weeks at a stretch lately. That’s what pregnancy does—it makes time speed up until it feels like I’m running just to catch up with my own thoughts. Madness.

I was going to say I have a full plate these days, but the better metaphor seems to be that I’m spinning a lot of plates right now. Of course, plates make me think of food and because I’m pregnant and therefore always hungry, so I get distracted from what else I might say. Food… fooooood… hungry…

Ahem. See what I mean?

In any case, I’m nearly 26 weeks pregnant and coming up on the third trimester (and depending on which chart you follow, the third trimester begins at 27 or 28 weeks) when the real exhaustion creeps in. That kind of scares me, because I’m pretty tired these days. Being pregnant with a toddler is far cry from being pregnant and only having myself to take care of. Likewise, being pregnant with a toddler and having three or four books in various stages of development as well as some other writing projects is a different world from the last time I was pregnant and napped whenever the need struck (which was often) and only had one book, the usual writing deadlines and one blog to worry about.

I thought things were supposed to slow down as you got older?? This has not been my experience…

So, what’s new with me? In addition to the expanding waistline (and yes, I know, I have not posted one single baby belly picture. I should work on that.), I’m finalizing Best Erotic Romance 2012. Isn’t that a pretty cover? This will be my fourth (!!) anthology for Cleis Press and I’m having so much fun editing anthologies for them!

Once this anthology is put to bed (so to speak), I’ll be working on Lustfully Ever After: Fairy Tale Erotic Romance. I’ll be accepting submissions for this new collection of erotic fairy tales until June 20. It’s unlikely I will be granting extensions this time because I have to get this book turned in before this baby is born. I need erotic, romantic, intense stories based on fairy tales, so if you are so inclined, please, please submit! Best Erotic Romance will be hitting the shelves in December, just in time for the holidays!

Of course, I can’t forget about my other upcoming release this year—Steamlust! I’m so excited about this book and doing a collection of steampunk erotic romance. I will have the TOC posted soon, but I will tell you there are fourteen delicious steampunk stories in this collection, along with a fabulous introduction by steampunk romance author Meljean Brook. This is the first anthology in which I haven’t included a story of my own and it feels a little weird, to be honest. But between the time crunch of other deadlines and the fantastic stories I received and the fact that the longer stories made for fewer opportunities for authors to be included, I felt it was for the best.

I’m also excited about Steamlust because it will be the first anthology for which there will be a book trailer!! The fabulously talented Nikki Magennis is busily working to create a magnificent film to showcase the anthology. She’s also created a blog to detail the entire process. If you’re interested in film making, animation, book trailers, steampunk or the creative process, stop by Steam * Lust * Animation. I am absolutely fascinated by this entire process and find myself ooohhing and ahhhing at the little details Nikki is revealing. I cannot wait to see the final film!! (We are shooting for an August release date to precede the September publication date, so stay tuned!)

And while I’m excited about my October and December releases, I’m so, so thrilled with this month’s release, Dream Lover: Paranormal Tales of Erotic Romance. This was such a fun book to put together and there are so many wonderful stories (along with a terrific foreword by erotic romance goddess Megan Hart). I just adore this book and the stories so much! I truly hope it finds the wide audience it deserves.

I’ll be speaking at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond in a couple of weeks, talking about “trends in the paranormal fiction business, the market for erotic romance and balancing writing, editing, teaching, and motherhood. ” (Eep! What do I know about balance??) Should be fun! Because of the new baby who is currently kicking me in the stomach,I don’t know what readings/events I’ll be able to do for Steamlust and Best Erotic Romance, but I’m already thinking ahead. I definitely want to go back to Sugar to visit Jacq and her fabulous staff in the spring and we’ve already discussed rescheduling my Breathe Books date (which was cancelled due to a conflict with a street festival the weekend I was supposed to be there).

I’m also trying to get in some writing, too. I’m determined to submit something for Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Curvy Girls anthology. I have a story in mind to write, I just have to find the time to write it! There are some other fabulous calls for submissions coming up this summer, as well. I’m particularly excited about Delilah Devlin’s Beastly Babes anthology. Lesbian shapeshifters! Fun!! So I need to carve out some more time from somewhere (which usually translates in taking it from my sleep, the only place left!) to do some writing before I’m inundated with newborn-sized diapers and 2-3 hour feeding schedules…

In the midst of the editing and writing and pregnancy, there is also the adorable almost 18 month old toddler who keeps me running. Patrick gives me hope when I despair being able to handle two babies under two—he’s so independent and cheerful and curious about everything, I (usually) think that this having two babies so close together will turn out to be an excellent thing. Of course, he also climbs on the kitchen table faster than I can say, “What are you doing?” and can now outrun and outmaneuver me (not difficult, since I’m pretty slow these days). So… it’s exhausting sometimes. I’m looking ahead to when this baby is out in the world and sleeping through the night and my body has bounced back to some semblance of its former self and my energy level returns. It will return, right?? Goodness, I hope so. I have a lot to do!

Oh, and I’m doing my weekly post over at Oh Get A Grip! and having such a fun time with it! Last week’s theme was about last words and what makes a memorable conclusion to a story. I wrote about how I tend to be long-winded (as evidenced by this blog post) and how difficult it is for me to have closure—in a story or in real life. Tough topic. This week’s was even more of a challenge: Gilbert and Sullivan! What I know about Gilbert and Sullivan can be summed up in a paragraph, but I finished my post last night (which will appear tomorrow) and did find something to write about.

And I can’t believe it’s been a year since I started moderating the twice monthly book club discussions for the Naked Reader Book Club sponsored by EdenFantasys SexIs Magazine and Cleis Press. The book club now has their own fabulous website and the group has grown so much in a year! Do stop by if you have a chance—discussions are every other Tuesday, 8-10 PM EST. If you join the book club, you not only get free books, but you also have the chance to win additional prizes during the discussions. Plus, you get to talk about erotica and sex. What’s not to love?

I know this summer is going to fly by in a blur of deadlines and activities and doctor’s appointments and baby preparations, but I’m also looking forward to finding some quiet moments to sip lemonade out on the deck and watch the baby splash in his pool (what will I call him when there’s another baby in the house??), and spend time with friends and see all those summer movies in cool, dark movie theaters… Plus, Sheri (my dearest friend for over 20 years) just sent me her flight itinerary for her June trip, which will coincide with my talk at Fountain Bookstore. So I’m also looking forward to a girls’ weekend and maybe some spa treatments… Oh, summer! It will be autumn before I know it and there will be a new little baby to love, but I’m going to make the most of these next weeks… and try to keep you updated a little more often!

I’m discovering there are people who still don’t know I’m pregnant. I’m not conceited enough to think that everyone should be up-to-date on my current status, but I figure between Facebook, blog and email that everyone who knows me knows I’m getting fatter by the hour. But no, I got a note from someone this morning who didn’t know I was pregnant. The congratulations and good wishes never get old, so it was nice to spend a few minutes talking baby and pregnancy when my usual talk these days is book, book, toddler, food, book, book, toddler, food. (I’m hungry all the time, it seems.)

So yes, for those who may have missed it in all the book promotions and calls for submissions, I am having another baby. I’m almost 23 weeks pregnant and things are going along swimmingly, for the most part. Patrick has been rocking our world for 17 months tomorrow and in 4 months, his baby brother will be joining the band. I still have days when I can’t wrap my mind around the idea of having two babies. Despite the fact that I will refer to him here as a toddler, Patrick is still a baby as far as I’m concerned. Even if he looks like a little boy.

The family tradition of feeding the raccoons continues! (Patrick thinks they’re cats. He meows at them.)

There are websites where you can make pregnancy counters or baby’s age counters or whatever. I have those pregnancy/baby counters on my sadly neglected baby blog. Since I’m “expecting” two books this year and one right after the new year, I thought I’d do counters for those as well. This is what my year looks like right now: